While many in the so-called “mainstream” media love to talk about the fictional “gun show loophole,” the editorial board at the Richmond Times-Dispatch recently told the truth about this anti-gun myth.
In an editorial titled “The Gun-Show Loophole Seems To Have Shrunk,” the editorial writers explained the issue with clarity and candor.
“Federally licensed firearm dealers must conduct a background check on prospective purchasers, but private sellers don’t have to,” they wrote. “That’s true regardless of whether the transaction takes place at a gun show or not. Yet to hear advocates and some legislators talk, you’d think gun shows provide hardened criminals with a steady stream of easy weapons.”
The editorial continued: “In fact, the claim has never held up well. Most criminals get their guns through other means, such as ‘sharing arrangements with fellow gang members,’ according to a recent item in Newsweek. A survey of prison inmates by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that gun shows accounted for less than 1 percent of the firearms used by felons.”
Well said. If only others in the media would try telling the truth about this subject, even now and then.
